In the past, when securities  Securities, as a generic term, covers various financial instruments. These include shares and bonds but also units in funds and structured products. still consisted of real paper documents, buyers received a physical certificate for their shares  A share is a security which gives investors a stake in a company. Companies raise capital by issuing shares. Shareholders have proprietary rights (e.g. entitlement to dividends) and membership rights (e.g. entitlement to take part in the general meeting and the right to vote). or bonds  A bond is a security that generates interest for investors. In addition to entitlement to payment of the agreed interest, bond holders – the creditors – also have the right to repayment of their capital. A government bond is issued by a state. The state, the Swiss Confederation for example, is the issuer of the bond and therefore also the debtor.. The paper document had to be transferred from the seller to the buyer and sometimes reassigned in writing (endorsed). The bank usually held the securities for its customers in a physical securities custody account The (securities) custody account is a digital repository where electronic securities or fund units are kept. It is always linked to an associated account. This ensures that you can conduct transactions, such as the sale or purchase of shares, bonds or fund units. You can also have credit, such as interest, dividend payments or distributions, paid into it.. As you can imagine, this procedure was very time-consuming and expensive. Today, securities trading is much easier. The physical certificate is stored centrally and customers receive only an electronic version when they trade securities. They no longer have to deal with physical securities if they decide to invest their money.

Your account for securities trading

This means there now has to be a way of storing securities electronically. This is where the “custody account  The (securities) custody account is a digital repository where electronic securities or fund units are kept. It is always linked to an associated account. This ensures that you can conduct transactions, such as the sale or purchase of shares, bonds or fund units. You can also have credit, such as interest, dividend payments or distributions, paid into it.” comes into play. The securities custody account is the digital repository where electronic securities or fund units are kept. It is always linked to your account, to ensure that you can conduct transactions, such as the sale or purchase of shares, bonds or fund units. You can also have credit, such as distributions, interest  Interest, also known as coupon in relation to bonds, is not dependent on earnings before tax and is normally paid out once a year. or dividend payments  The portion of a company's profit that goes to its shareholders., paid into it. If you wish to invest money and trade on the stock exchange  A stock exchange is a market organized according to certain rules – it’s a place where supply and demand meet. There are, for example, stock exchanges for securities, metals and other raw materials. The most well-known stock exchanges are those on which securities are traded. In Switzerland, this is the SIX Swiss Exchange., you first require a custody account. This can be opened in the same way as a bank account – for example, directly with your customer advisor or quite simply online.

Manage custody account via online platform

Your custody account is accessed in exactly the same way as your bank account. You have secure and easy access to it at all times via online banking. This allows you to purchase or sell securities or keep track of the latest prices conveniently and inexpensively at home or smartphone. The custody account enables you to check on your investments at any time. It also allows you to issue instructions to your customer advisor or to your bank by telephone whenever you wish.